Facilitating electronic auction of prepayment of an invoice

Abstract

Embodiments for facilitating an electronic auction of prepayment of an invoice are disclosed. One embodiment includes a server for facilitating an electronic auction of prepayment of an invoice. For this embodiment, the server is operative to inform a supplier whether the invoice is available for meeting a defined cash need of the supplier after the invoice has been approved by the supplier and a buyer with definite terms, receive a prepayment offer from the buyer, and provide the prepayment offer to the supplier, provide the supplier with information to aid the supplier in determining whether to take the prepayment offer from the buyer, or submit the invoice with proposed prepayment terms to an exchange platform, electronically provide the invoice to the exchange platform server with proposed prepayment terms if the supplier decides to submit the invoice, wherein the exchange platform server facilitates an electronic auction of the invoice with proposed prepayment terms to a plurality of bidders and receive a bid from at least one of the plurality of bidders, and electronically facilitate payment of the invoice between the winning bidder and the supplier if a winning bid is received.

What is claimed: 
     
         1 . A server for facilitating an electronic auction of prepayment of an invoice, operative to:
 inform a supplier whether the invoice is available for meeting a defined cash need of the supplier after the invoice has been approved by the supplier and a buyer with definite terms;   receive a prepayment offer from the buyer, and provide the prepayment offer to the supplier;   provide the supplier with information to aid the supplier in determining whether to take the prepayment offer from the buyer, or submit the invoice with proposed prepayment terms to an exchange platform;   electronically provide the invoice to the exchange platform server with proposed prepayment terms if the supplier decides to submit the invoice, wherein the exchange platform server facilitates an electronic auction of the invoice with proposed prepayment terms to a plurality of bidders and receive a bid from at least one of the plurality of bidders; and   electronically facilitate payment of the invoice between the winning bidder and the supplier if a winning bid is received.   
     
     
         2 . The server of  claim 1 , wherein a winning bid is a one of a plurality of bids received from the plurality of bidders having a highest value 
     
     
         3 . The server of  claim 2 , wherein the winning bid comprises a combination of a plurality of bidders. 
     
     
         4 . The server of  claim 1 , wherein the buyer makes payment to a receivable account independent of whether a winning bid is received. 
     
     
         5 . The server of  claim 4 , further comprising payments being made from the receivable account to the winning bidder if a winning bid is received. 
     
     
         6 . The server of  claim 4 , further comprising payment being made from the receivable account to the supplier if a winning bid is not received. 
     
     
         7 . A system for facilitating an electronic auction of prepayment of an invoice, comprising;
 a cash optimizer server; and   a contract facilitator server network connected to the cash optimizer server and an exchange platform server, where the contract facilitator server is operative to:
 electronically facilitate approval of the invoice between a supplier and a buyer with definite terms; 
 electronically receive a prepayment offer from the buyer if the cash optimizer server informs the supplier that the invoice is available for meeting a defined cash need of the supplier; 
 provide the prepayment offer to the cash optimizer, and receive back information from the cash optimizer information which is provided to the supplier, and allows the supplier to determine whether to accept the prepayment offer or provide the invoice to an exchange platform for auction; 
 provide the invoice with proposed prepayment terms to the exchange platform server if the supplier decides to submit the invoice, wherein the exchange platform manages an electronic auction of the invoice with proposed prepayment terms with a plurality of bidders; and 
 electronically facilitate payment of the invoice between the winning bidder and the supplier if a winning bid is received. 
   
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein a winning bid is a one of a plurality of bids received from the plurality of bidders having a highest value 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the winning bid comprises a combination of a plurality of bidders. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the buyer makes payment to a receivable account independent of whether a winning bid is received. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10 , further comprising payments being made from the receivable account to the winning bidder if a winning bid is received. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 10 , further comprising payment being made from the receivable account to the supplier if a winning bid is not received. 
     
     
         13 . A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a non-transitory program of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method of facilitating an electronic auction of prepayment of an invoice, the method comprising:
 facilitating, through a contract facilitator, approval of the invoice with definite terms between a supplier and a buyer;   informing, by a cash optimizer, the supplier whether the invoice is available for meeting a defined cash need of the supplier;   receiving, by the supplier, a prepayment offer from the buyer;   providing the prepayment offer to a cash optimizer, wherein the cash optimizer provides the supplier with information to aid the supplier in determining whether to take the prepayment offer from the buyer, or submit the invoice with proposed prepayment terms to an exchange platform; and   if the supplier decides to submit the invoice, then the supplier electronically submitting the invoice with proposed prepayment terms to the exchange platform;   the exchange platform providing an electronic auction of the invoice with proposed prepayment terms to a plurality of bidders and receiving a bid from at least one of the plurality of bidders;   if a winning bid is received, electronically facilitating payment of the invoice between the winning bidder and the supplier.   
     
     
         14 . The program storage device of  claim 13 , wherein the winning bid is a one of a plurality of bids received from the plurality of bidders having a highest value 
     
     
         15 . The program storage device of  claim 14 , wherein the winning bid comprises a combination of a plurality of bidders. 
     
     
         16 . The program storage device of  claim 13 , wherein the buyer makes payment to a receivable account independent of whether a winning bid is received. 
     
     
         17 . The program storage device of  claim 16 , further comprising payments being made from the receivable account to the winning bidder if a winning bid is received. 
     
     
         18 . The program storage device of  claim 16 , further comprising payment being made from the receivable account to the supplier if a winning bid is not received.